Year 7 STEM students at Lumen Christi Catholic College, Pambula Beach, have been building solar lights for children living in energy poverty in Papua New Guinea. They have been participating in the SolarBuddy program, an Australian charity that aims to help children study after dusk and improve their education outcomes.

Earlier this year, people from Papua New Guinea donated $60,000 to the Bega Valley Community Disaster Fund. The College was inspired by this act of generosity and wanted to strengthen the bond of friendship by sending solar lights to children affected by energy poverty in those areas.

With generous funding support from the Tathra Hotel and ClubGrants, students worked together to assemble the SolarBuddy lights and wrote personal letters to accompany them. The Merimbula Rotary Club helped to ensure the delivery of the lights to the areas of greatest need.

As a result, children in Papua New Guinea will experience better educational outcomes by using a reliable, clean source of light, as well as improvements to their overall health and wellbeing. The lights will have a positive economic impact on families, reducing expenditure on fuel, batteries and electricity.

“Education needs to offer opportunities where students do more than talk about sustainability and caring for others,” said Wendy Mockler, Facilitator of Pedagogy at Lumen Christi. “The SolarBuddy program helps our community by educating students about renewable energy sources and reaching out to people who need us.”

“It is important for our students to appreciate that serving others and making a difference not only builds community connections, but gives us individually a sense of accomplishment and drive to work for the betterment of all. We want our students to recognise that they can lead with the strength of optimism and generosity,” she said.

This is the third year that Lumen Christi has taken part in the SolarBuddy program. Last year the College gifted lights to children in Vanuatu in the wake of Cyclone Harold.